Fisher secures double podium on difficult weekend.

A pair of podium finishes for Josh Fisher was the undoubted highlight of a difficult weekend for Team SWR as the British F3 International Series headed to Silverstone for the latest rounds of the season at the weekend.

Three races on the full Grand Prix circuit were squeezed into the timetable at Silverstone - beginning with one of the rounds rescheduled from the fog-stricken Spa-Francorchamps event in April.

The grid for this race was set at Spa, so Fisher knew that he already had second on the National Class grid secure for this race at least. Unfortunately the SWR-Crypton team had some difficulty finding the right set-up for the Silverstone GP track, and instead of attacking for victory, Fisher had to drive his heart out to hold onto a podium position and would eventually finish in third after losing out to Jonathan Kennard for second.

The handling problems also compromised Fisher in the two qualifying sessions held before the 'Spa' race, leaving him only seventh on the National class grids. He improved to fifth in round 15, despite a major set-up change failing to pay off before things came right in the final race of the weekend.

Fisher leaped into fourth place on the very first lap of the race and then spent the opening part of the race embroiled in a battle for the lead with Salvador Duran, Ben Clucas, and Barton Mawer. Contact with the latter cost Fisher a little ground to the lead pair, but he moved up to third in the incident and was able to maintain the position to the flag.

"Josh's drive in the first race of the weekend was truly incredible," team principal Trevor Powell said. "We didn't provide him with a very competitive car, but he still managed to take it to the podium.

"We decided to make the set-up a little softer for the second race, which proved to be the wrong decision, but once again Josh drove very well to take fifth place. And then the last race was spectacular, he was passing his rivals as if they were standing still on the first lap. It was great for his championship position, and gave the team plenty to celebrate."

However team-mate Nick Jones had a less enjoyable time at Silverstone with his whole weekend understandably overshadowed by a family bereavement. He finished all three races in sixth, ninth, and eighth positions, and improved his pace throughout the meeting, but had more important matters on his mind than scoring championship points.

"It has been a horrible weekend for Nick and we all feel for him," Powell added. "He tried to put it out of his mind, but it's impossible to ignore such a situation and we all understood that. In the circumstances, we were pleased that he got down to the times that he did."